It is all very well making lots of paintings but after a while you wonder what to do with them all.  Most of the time I gave them away to anyone who liked them.

At about the same time, and as part of his  Gap year, my husband and a friend went  to  Base Camp on Everest, a great challenge and whilst doing this they raised over £12,000 for the Antony Nolan fund.

He asked me if I would sell, rather than give away my paintings  and  put the money into  the fund raising.   Not a problem. However, it did dawn on me, perhaps if people were happy  to buy them, then maybe one day I could make some money.

I started to visit lots of local art exhibitions and realised that my work was actually OK and  that gave me a lot of confidence.   Never one to hold back I  decided to give myself a project.   I would book a hall for some twelve months ahead and hold  a solo art exhibition. It was ambitious, and it was to be my challenge. As far as I was concerned, I had nothing to lose, if I sold work that would be great, and if not it would be disappointing but it not be a problem.

I chose to apply to the Oxmarket in Chichester because it was near to home and a great place to show work. Once accepted, I  booked  the large hall and counted out that there were  42  panels.   I decided to fill each one with a paintings, putting all the miniatures in one panel.   One wall  for land and seascapes,  another for portraits and miniatures  and the third wall for contemporary paintings.

I had 12 months to produce  42 paintings,  now life was  getting really exciting. I loved the challenge and if you think about it, if it all went pear shaped all I would lose would be my booking fee and a realisation that I was not up to it.   If I did not have the time or the ability to create 42 paintings, then  I could simply put bigger gaps between each painting. What could possibly go wrong.

I believe in fate and so many times my life has turned a corner, when I least expected it to.

A  five minute conversation with a tot, changed may way of painting, changed my way of thinking and put me on the road to working as a professional artist.